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(No Model.)

G. E. WHEELER. SEWING MACHINE.

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CEPHAS E. VIIEELER, OF HOPKINTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THECAMPBELL MACHINE COMPANY, OF PAVTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND.

SEWINGHVACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 446,398, dated February10, 1891.

Application led June 13, 1885. Serial No. 168,605. (No model.) v

To @Z whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CErnAs E. WHEELER, of IIopkinton, in the county ofMiddlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain 5 new anduseful Improvements in Channeling; Mechanism for Sewing-Machines; and Ido hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connectionwith the drawings furnished and forming a part of the same, is

1o a clear, true, and complete description of my invention.

My said improvements are applicable generally to such machines as are ormay be employed in stitching such heavy fabrics as leather, and intowhich it is desirable to embed the thread at one or both sides of thefabric, and therefore said improvements are specially applicable towax-thread sewingmachines.

zo In stitching soles to boots and shoes an angular channel is usuallyformed in the leather for receiving the line of stitches, and thencompletely hiding it by liatly folding down the flap of the channel andsecuring it with paste or cement. My improvements may be employed togoed advantage in connection with or after the operation of ordinarychanneling devices, and thereby enable a better outside iinish to beobtained, because the 3o thread will be more thoroughly embedded in thechannel and enable the flap to fully return toits original position. It.has also been common heretofore to make a draw cut in leather tocorrespond with the stitch line 3 5 and also with a hand-knife or chiselto make stabbing` cuts in which to embed the thread at one or both sidesof the fabric.V

New in accordance with my invention I employ a reciprocatingrigidly-carried scoring-tool which is operated on the stitch-line andhas its edge coincident with the center of the feed-line and alsocoincident with the axis of the needle. This scoringtool can be reliedupon either for progressively making an actual cut or a V-shapeddepression or channel, according to the character of the edge of thetool, as well as to the degree of force with which it is driven into theleather.

Then no awl is employed, said scoring-tool is necessarily mounted uponthe needle-bar and in close proximity to the shank. of the needle andmay or may not be integral with the needle. If an awl be employed and itand the needle are both located above or below the worleplate, saidscoring-tool may be 5 5 mounted on either the awl-bar or the needlebar,although the latter is preferable. If the a-wl and the needle beoppositely located, one above and the other below the Workplate, thenthe bar for each maybe provided 6o with a scoring-tool for enabling thethread to be well embedded in the fabric at both sides thereof; or whenit is desired te be thus embedded at one side only, then but onescoring-tool would be used, and it would be located-011 the needle-baror on the awl-bar aecording to the circumstances of each case.

It will be well to here state that I am aware that it is not new toemploy a cutting-tool with a reciprocating needle-bar in a sewing- 7omachine, such having long been used for trimming the fabric at one sideof the stitch-line and making an edge corresponding in contour with orparallel to said line. That said prior combination of a cutting-tool,with a needlebar, is radically unlike my combinations of needle-bar andscoring-tool will be readily apparent on observing' that the twocombinations are not interchangeable for performing the same service,and that the trimming or So cutting tool must Operate at the one side ofa stitch-line and opposite stitches already formed, while myscoring-tool must operate as a prolongation of the center of thestitchline and in advance of formed stitches; and, S5 further, mycombination pertains to Controlling the relations of the thread to theleather, while said prior combination has nothing whatever to do withthe stitching operation.

I am also aware that in sewing-machines 9o adapted to stitchbutton-holes a cutting-blade has been mounted upon a needle-bar by meansof a sliding stoel; backed up by a spring, for progressively cutting aslit in fabric during the operation of stitching one side of abutton-hole and organized so as to be prevented from cutting duringalternate strokes of the needle and wholly prevented from cutting Whilethe opposite side of the button-hole is being stitched. Although saidcutting-blade 10o has its edge coincident with the axis of the needle,it is un'littcd for my purposes, not only because of its capacity foryielding when vforced into contact with leather, which v.is not onlymore or less resilient, but also varied in density.

To more particularly describe my invention I will refer to theaccompanying drawings, lin which- Figure I illustrates so much of awax-thread sewing-machine as is deemed necessary for illustrating myimprovements as applied both to an awl-bar and to a needle-bar. Fig. 2in several views illustrates one form of my scoring-tool as constructedfor use with either a hook-needle. as shown, or with an awl, Fig. 3 insection illustrates the scoring-tool as when constructed integrally withan awl ora needle. Fig. a in several views illustrates the scoringtoolinodiiied in its construction and adapted lfor use either on aneedle-bar or an awl-bar. Fig. 5 in several views lillustrates anotherrform of scoring-tool adapted for use in connection with a slotted awlor a needle. Fig. G illustrates a modification of the scoring-tooladapted to operate only at one side o f an aWl or a needle.

Referring to Fig. l, it is to be understood that the machine-head A andwork-plate B may be indefinitely varied in their character withoutdeparture from my invention, and also that although I have here shown ahookneedle O below the work-plate and an awl D above they might as wellhave been reversed in position ,or both located at the same side of theplate, or the awl dispensed with, or an eyepointed needle under properconditions employed in lieu of the hook-needle, it being obvious thatnone of these well-known features of `construction and arrangementpertains to my invention.

'The scoring-tool E is the novel feature regardless of its specificconstruction or whether it is mounted on the needle-bar o. or the awlbarb, or on both of them in the same machine.

Broadly stated, my invention consists in the combination, with a needle,of a positivelyoperated, reciprocating, and unyielding scoring-toolhaving its scoring-edge c coincident with the aXis of the needle andwith the center of the feed-line or stitch-line, whereby a score will beformed in the fabric,into which the thread at either or both surfacesmay be drawn, and either made substantially iush with said surfaces orembedded ther-ein to any desired extent.

In Fig. l both the awl-bar and the needle-bar have a scoring-tool Erigidly mounted thereon, and this is constructed in a desirable form, asis more particularly illustrated in Fig. 2. In this case thescoring-tool has a head d and a shank c, both tubular and splitlongitudinally, so that when an awl or a needle is piaced therein andthe shank inserted into an awlbar or a needle-bar one clamping-screwwill lirmly confine both in an operative position. The scoring-edge c istruly diametrical to its shank, andV it is therefore exactly coincidentwith the axis of the needle or the awl with which it is used, and whenmounted on a bar said tool is carefully adjusted, so as to present itsedge exactly central on the feed or stitch line.

In some cases it is desirable, as hereinbe-A fore indicated, that thescoring-edge be sharp `enough to make a true incision in the leather.

In other cases it will serve as well if it be not sharp enough toactually cut, but in lieu thereof capable of making a clean V-shapeddepression, Which, being promptly occupied by thread under heavytension, will enable the thread to be fairly well housed. It will beseen that even if the scoring-tool be employed only on the aWl-bar itsedge will nevertheless be coincident with the center of the feed-lineand be in operative combination with lthe needle, because the awl is initself ,no part of the stitching mechanism,.and the sole function of thescoring-tool is to provide rfor embedding the stitch-line thread in theleather.

Referring next to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the scoring-toolF and theneedle are integral, and the same construction is applicable to awls,although I prefer the separate construction, because then any onescoring-tool may be used either with an awl or a needle.

In Fig. 4; the scoring-tool E is shown to have a tubular shank; but itis larger than is shown in Fig. 2, so that instead of being inside theneedle-bar or the awl-bar the bar slips into the tool-shank, which isrigidly secured thereto by a clamp-screw, the needle or the awl beingsecured by its own clamp-screw.

In Fig. 5 the scoring-tool F. is shown to be in the form of a thin steelplate adapted to be inserted endwise into a slot j' in an awl or aneedle and then secured therein by a key f or this latter may bedispensed with by omitting the central recess f2 (shown in thescoring-tool) and having the central portion of said tool somewhatthicker and wider thanat one or both ends, so that it may be forced intothe slot f and irinly secured thereon by friction.

It is sometimes desirable to have the scoring-tool operate only on oneside of the needle or the awl, in whichcase said scoring-tool E maybeconstructed as shown in Fig. 6, having a one-sided scoring-edge c. lVithspecial care in controlling the thread a scoring-tool substantially asshown in Fig. 6 may be employed, in connection with an eye-pointedneedle, with fair results, especially if the needle be carefully mountedin its bar and the shank of the tool be vertically grooved, as indicatedin dotted lines, so as to better accommodate the thread during thedownward movement of the needle.

It will be seen that the scoring-tool when once properly adjusted for acertain line of work must always penetrate to a certain point in theleather, because said tool is rigidly carried and positively operated,and hence it Will make a score of uniform depth and Width, regardless ofthe variable character of the leather as to density.

IOO

IIO

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patentl. In a sewing-machine, the combination of a needle anda positivelyoperated reciprocating and rigidly-carried scoring-toolhaving` a scoring-edge which is coincident with the axis of the needleand with the center of the feedline, substantially as described, wherebywhile the machine is stitching' the fabric will be progressively scoredon the stitch-line for enabling the thread to be embedded or housed onthe stitch-line, as set forth.

2. In a sewing-machine, the combination, with a reci procating`needle-bar and its needle, of a scoring-tool also mounted on and rigidlyCEPHAS E. VIIEELER.

litnesses:

Jos. II. ADAMS, DANIEL MCN'IVEN.

